CATEGORY: MORE PORT TOWNSEND

Just as it had been with Dorothy Adams, after the van Wetters had finished their house, they asked me to design their landscaping.

Their requests were simple.  They said they liked the existing lawn around the house, but that they would like some kind of barrier that would keep their grand children from falling over the edge of the bluff.  Other than those two things, they gave me carte blanche.

For the bluff-side protection, I used a variety of low growing shrubs, some with thorns, in an informal undulating pattern, including a combination of three of my favorite low-growing rhododendrons in contrasting shades of pink: Bow Bells, Cary Ann and Mission Bells.  These bloomed at the same time and the colors were especially pleasing together.  I was still in Port Townsend when they first bloomed and the effect against the blue of the Bay was wonderful.

In front of the house I designed an entry courtyard paved with flagstone. Near the center, it had a four foot diameter shallow, circular, concrete planter, which was plumbed for a water roiler.  This turned out to be another focal point with unforeseen problems.  Crows started using it as a birdbath and leaving their detritus, such as dead fish and other stinky stuff from the beach and hamburger wrappers and other stinky stuff from the dumpsters by the restaurant.  Raccoons were also visitors.  It was difficult to tell which animal left the most worrisome debris.  We had to fill it with earth and plant it.  Such are the best laid plans of crows, critters and those who are architecturally inclined!